North American Aviation

On May 11, 2001 a group of 12 restored Mitchell B-25’s took off from Fresno airport on a circuitous route to commemorate Doolittle’s raid on Japan of April 18, 1942. Among the planes was Lyon Air Museum’s Guardian of Freedom. Complete with fighter escort the group flew over Central Valley, the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and over a replica of the USS Hornet anchored at Alameda in San Francisco Bay. [The original aircraft carrier Hornet was sunk in The Battle of Santa Cruz in the Solomon Islands October 26, 1942].